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"Sunny, I'm home!" June called out, entering the apartment. While she waited for a response she crossed through the entryway to the closet on the other side of the living area. She had asked Sunny to tidy up all of the boxes in there while she was out, and wanted to see how he had done.
To her disappointment, the closet was in an even worse state than before. It looked like Sunny had started cleaning, then gave up partway through. That was... troubling. Ever since they moved into the apartment, her son had been quite good about handling any chores she gave him. Seeing something like this made her think about how he was right after Mari died, where it was impossible to get him to clean the area around his bed, never mind his whole room.
"Sunny?" June called out again, heading towards his room. He hadn't responded to her yet, and she was starting to get scared. She knew it was unreasonable of her to panic so quickly, but thinking of how her son was back then brought back the sort of nightmares she used to have; walking into a silent house, going up to his room, opening the door, finding his body-
She exhaled, stopping that spiral before it had a chance to start.
"I'm coming in, Sunny." Slowly opening the door, she peeked inside.
Sunny was sitting on his bed and seemed fine, at least physically. His cheeks were wet, and his one good eye was puffy and red. He didn't even look up as the door opened, continuing to stare at nothing, hugging a cardboard box.
June paused in front of him and managed to resist calling out to him again. It was incredibly tempting to do so, to put her hands on his shoulders and make him tell her what the problem was now so she could be a good mother and fix it. But that wasn't how Sunny worked. It wasn't how he worked now, and it wasn't how he worked five years ago, something that June had learned the hard way.
Instead, she quietly sat down beside him. She placed a tentative hand on his back, and when he didn't recoil away she left it there.
Patient. She needed to be patient, and trust that Sunny would talk to her when he was ready. And after a few quiet minutes, he finally did.
"...Sorry, mom." He mumbled, leaning against her.
"Oh sweetie, there's nothing to apologize for." She put her arm around him.
"I saw something that belonged to Mari."
June winced. "I'm the one who should apologize, Sunny. I should have expected that you would have seen something of hers in there."
"I thought I was better."
"You are better, dear. I promise. But there's always going to be little things that slip through and remind us of how much we miss her. That's nothing to be ashamed of. Okay?"
"Alright." Sunny let out a shaky breath and stood up, still cradling the box.
"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly did you see in the closet?" June couldn't think of anything of Mari's they would have in storage; her clothes had all been donated, the piano was back in Faraway, and everything else had either been sold at yard sales or was displayed in the house as a memento.
Sunny looked down at the cardboard box, seemed to weigh his options for a second, and then handed it to her. Opening it up, June looked inside to find a puffy pink dress, complete with matching bow and heart-shaped flail.
...Oh. Well.
"It must have been her costume for Halloween that year." Sunny said, oblivious to the conflicting emotions playing out on June's face. "Seeing it made me think about how she must have been looking forward to dressing up as Sweetheart that year, and then how she never got the chance to because of me, and that's what-"
"Sunny." June interrupted him. "This isn't Mari's."
Sunny's dour expression was immediately replaced by one of confusion. "It's not?"
"No, it's-" She stopped with a sigh. "It'll be easier to show you."
Sunny sat on the couch in the living room. He was feeling better than he had been, but something about how Mom had been acting after she saw the costume was making him a bit uneasy. Right after she had him sit down, she had quickly excused herself and vanished into her bedroom to find something, although she wouldn't say what.
He looked over at the box beside him and examined its contents again. She definitely recognized it, so it belonged to someone in their family. But who could it belong to if it wasn't Mari's?
The couch creaked as his mother sat down beside him and placed a small book in his lap.
"It should be in there somewhere."
Curious, Sunny opened the book. It turned out to be a photo album, much smaller than Basil's, with just enough room for one picture per page. The first picture looked like it was the front of a hotel, with an amateurish-looking banner hanging from the ceiling:
OVERTHERE 19TH ANNUAL SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY CONVENTION
From there, the rest of the pictures seemed to be the inside of the hotel. Some pictures were wide shots of crowds of people and tables, but most of them were individuals in costume. Some of them were even dressed up as characters Sunny recognized, including an impressive crowd of Captain Spaceboy and his entire crew.
And then on one page was the photo of a girl. She was maybe a few years older than Sunny, dressed up as Sweetheart and doing a decent imitation of her trademark mocking laugh. Looking closer, he could tell it was the same costume that was sitting in the box beside him. Her hair was covered with a wig, so it was a little hard to identify her, but her face was familiar. Very familiar. In fact, she looked just like...
Sunny looked up at his mother, then back down at the picture. Then back up at his mother, then back down at the picture again.
"...Is that...?"
"Uh-huh." His mother nodded.
He continued staring at the picture, slack-jawed.
"Okay, it's not that shocking, is it?" Sunny's mother glowered at him. "I used to be young too, believe it or not."
"No, that's not..." Sunny trailed off, knowing there was no safe way to finish that sentence. "S-so, when was this picture taken?"
"Let's see..." His mother tapped her chin. "This was my freshman year in college, so it was about twenty-five years ago, give or take. The convention was close by the campus, so my friends managed to rope me into going."
"Did they convince you to dress up, too?"
She coughed. "Well, no. That was my idea. Luckily, we figured out we wanted to go with enough time for me to make the costume."
Sunny looked back at the costume. The fact his mother went out of her way to make this told him that her friends probably didn't need to convince her to go to the convention quite as much as she was letting on. As for the costume itself, it wasn't too surprising she was able to make it; she used to repair his plushies all the time when he was younger, so he knew she could sew. Still, there was a world of difference between fixing a toy and making a dress.
"I didn't know you liked Sweetheart this much."
"Really Sunny, why do you think I was okay with you and your friends blaring those cartoons every Saturday morning?" His mother grinned. "It's the same stuff I grew up with. Some of it, at least. I don't know how I feel about those newer seasons with the clones."
Sunny nodded along, taking in this new side of his mother.
"All in all, it was a good time. I'm glad my friends brought me along." Sunny's mother smiled wistfully. "Sometimes I wish I got to go to another one."
Sunny frowned. "If you liked it so much, why didn't you?"
Her smile dipped slightly. "I didn't get the chance. First I needed to focus on college more, then I met your father, went back for my Master's, started job hunting, and before I knew it I was raising a family. I didn't have time for things like conventions."
"...I'm sorry."
"That's just how it goes, Sunny." His mother shrugged. "When you grow up, you have less time for things like that. That's why I keep pressuring you to make sure you enjoy all the things you missed out on while you can. Still, I don't have any regrets. If the trade-off for less free time was getting to raise you and Mari..." Her smile returned. "I think that was a fair trade. Even if I took it for granted sometimes."
"I think you did okay, Mom."
"We'll have to agree to disagree, dear. But that's nice of you to say."
He returned his mother's smile. Even if it came out of a silly misunderstanding, it was nice to be able to talk to her so candidly like this. It made him think that maybe he really was getting better, and that made him happy.
Didn't it?
"Sunny?" His mother sounded concerned. "What's wrong, dear?"
It took him a moment to realize that he had started crying again.
Sunny's mother wilted slightly. "Is it Mari again?"
He gave a halting nod. "Talking with you about growing up, and seeing the kind of person you used to be... Mari won't be able to change like that." He had always seen Mari as grown-up already, but that was just his frame of reference as her younger brother. Even now that he was older than her, he still felt like he had a lot of catching up to do in terms of maturity. But that wouldn't last forever; eventually he'd get past her, and that knowledge hurt.
His mother wrapped her arms around him. "Well, all that means is that we need to enjoy life as much as we can for her."
He hugged her back. "Wish I knew what that meant."
"It means whatever you want, sweetie. Whatever or whoever you grow up into, as long as you're happy with yourself, I'm sure she'll be happy too. And so will I."
Happy with himself... he wasn't sure he was there yet, but maybe he was at least on the way.
"Alright," Sunny's mother stood up, grabbing the box containing her costume. "I think the closet can stay messy for another day. I'll go put this away, and then the two of us can get started on making dinner."
"Yes, Mom."
As she headed for her room, Sunny called out one more time. "Mom?"
She peeked out the door. "Yes, dear?"
"I'm sorry you had to show me a picture of you dressed up as Sweetheart."
His mother winked at him. "Sunny, if this is the most embarrassing thing you ever find out about me, I'll be just fine." And before he could ask her what she meant by that, she closed the door behind her.
June leaned against the door with a sigh. That wasn't the kind of conversation she expected to have today, but it seemed like it turned out okay. Score one for Sweetheart. Speaking of which, the costume itself looked a little wrinkled. Taking it out of the box, she put it on her bed and smoothed it out as best she could with her hands. She moved to put it back... then stopped.
Stepping up to the mirror in her room, she draped the costume in front of her, holding it close to her chest. Examining her reflection, she reared back, quirking an eyebrow and putting on a haughty smile.
"Oh ho ho ho." She chuckled under her breath, hoping Sunny wouldn't hear. Even so, the act of talking out loud just made her more self-conscious. Clucking her tongue, she balled up the costume and threw it onto her bed.
What the hell was she thinking? There's no way she could wear that thing again.
She'd have to make a new one.